Some plants have great survival skills and problem-solving smarts. When voles invade their soft, cosy garden beds, rather than meekly accepting extinction they pack their bags and move into the protective sharp gravel, vole-safe driveway (and paths), where they flourish and increase. Siberian Iris and Astilbe are two good examples.
copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld
copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld
copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld
My driveway is prime real estate — the Central Park West of the garden.
Even Digitalis grandiflora (syn. D. ambigua), the yellow foxglove, which owing to its toxic nature is rarely bothered by voles, never misses an opportunity to add to its driveway holdings.
copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld
Actually, in lieu of a driveway, a gravel path will serve the same purpose. When I thought the voles finally got every last one of my Grape Hyacinth bulbs I was surprised and delighted to find them popping up in the stone paths. (Ditto for the digitalis.)
copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld
copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld
Needless to say, I’m especially cautious and restrained when weeding. You never know what wonders you may find—or for that matter where they may be found. ( See also the Nov. 2011 post, “Prunus ‘Snow Fountain’ “).
As Louis Pasteur once said: “Chance favors a prepared mind.”